The Moles – Instinct

The Moles

Instinct

http://www.divshare.com/download/4710277-dbf

For better or worse, Richard Davies’ orchestral obsessions took hold on the Moles and the result is Instinct. Now, I really love this mini-lp and his eventual shedding of his grubbier past for peacock feathers and strings with Cardinal, but it was kind of shocking and abrupt. Untune the Sky, his earliest efforts posted on the blog a few days ago, saw Davies’ mastery of a fuzzy, sort of off-kilter psychedelic indie pop song. Instinct finds Davies unhappy with past efforts and he has shaken the Moles to the core.

Instead of English Nuggets, indie-pop and the Bats, Chills and Verlaines, we find Van Dyke Parks and Nilsson as new bedmates. To be honest, this comparison isn’t totally honest because I still haven’t heard a parallel to some of the sounds found here. I remember some godawful term called “ork-pop” used to describe Cardinal, but i cannot protest too much since I repeatedly cited the term “post-rock” when I worked for Alternative Press. Neither are appropriate. There is something inherently prog about all of these tracks, but the influence of Untune the Sky grounds it before it gets too floofy.

I sound conflicted, but I really do love this album. Davies’ remains a wordsmith in the vein of the Davies’ brothers and and truly has a way with words. He builds worlds within songs and if you but into his musical worldview, it is a rich experience. I like Untune the Sky better, but this middle ground is very enlightening in the context of what comes after. What comes after? Well, I will post the rest throughout the week.

Small Factory – For If You Cannot Fly

Small Factory

For if You Cannot Fly

http://www.divshare.com/download/4709860-c52

When I teach my struggling students how to write a descriptive essay, I ask them to pick a single adjective to describe the object or being that will be highlighted. Then, I request that they provide three points or arguments that prove this quality can be justified in their essay. If I was split down the middle, and my sterner half asked my floundering half to write an essay about For If You Cannot Fly, I would quickly pick “bittersweet” as my magic word.

My reasoning lies in the fact that this band seemed to epitomize the creative and emotional hangover that can happen when the “sunshine and lollipops” ethos of twee no longer fits and a major label knocks on your door and demands more than this. Their debut I Do Not Love You wasn’t exactly packed with “Kumbaya” moments, but tracks like “Keep on Smiling” and “I’m Not Giving Up” as well as their earlier singles pointed towards the sanguine sounds associated with their contemporaries. However, it seems like band seemed stressed, depressed and somewhat bitter by the time of its follow-up.

For if You Cannot Fly begins with the refrain “The Last Time I spoke to you, I said some really mean things/ It didn’t feel good but I felt better” and goes on to state “i’m not done, I’m having too much fun.” There is a bitterness to the lyrics on this album that points towards the reasons behind the dissolution of the band and the sad, self-destructive undertones to many songs. The chorus to “Hi, Howard I’m Back” includes the chorsu “I’m going to drink until I fall down” and describes a drunken soul who dreams about holding a lost lover. If you listen closely, this is a really depressing album.

It isn’t all razorblades and Draino. I always naively bonded with the song “Versus Tape” as it proclaims the joys of listening to a beat-up Versus cassette tape and how “that tape is the world spinning round.” Yes, it is equally naive to believe the truthfulness of this verse, but it resonated with how I would wander the streets of Western PA with a walkman and get so passionate about the albums that whirred in my pocket. It is idealistic, but it perfectly distills how a love of music can empower you for a moment or a lifetime.

Overall, For If You Cannot Fly is a subtle bummer, but includes enough glimmers of hope to open your eyes to the bittersweet qualities of our lives. Just dig beneath the surface and listen for the deeper meaning behind this album.

Michael Hurley – Bavarian Radio Session

Michael Hurley

Bavarian Radio

http://www.divshare.com/download/4701611-23a

More in the promised series of Michael Hurley bootlegs. This is special since you get to hear him explain the inspiration behind “The Werewolf” and other songs. In addition, he covers the Woody Woodpecker theme song and delivers really heartbreaking performances of his greatest hits. He also explains that “O My Stars” is inspired by Hilary Clinton. Who knew?

Cheater Slicks – Whiskey

Cheater Slicks

Whiskey

http://www.divshare.com/download/4709592-c5a

One of America’s most unsung rock n’ roll bands, the Cheater Slicks have flown under most folks’ radar during their twenty years of existence. Sure, they garnered some attention when Jon Spencer produced and contributed to their Don’t Like You album, but only garage rock aficionados have been their “largest” supporters. Don’t Like You wasn’t even close to their best effort, but Whiskey, their debut for In the Red, should’ve been the one that opened more eyes to the raw power of their music. Many of Whiskey’s songs make it clear that the band was enamoured with the Sonics, Stooges and the the great singles compiled on the Nuggets, Back From the Grave and Killed by Death series. They weren’t down with the fruity “Incense and Peppermints” style of psych, but the primal hate and aggression of “The Witch.”

Before their signing to In the Red, the band’s music was fairly great if you were in the mood for sloppy, aggressive punk, but lacked a certain je nai se quois, but they sure found their goddamn quois on this one. Prior to Whiskey, their ranks included GG Allin’s brother Merle, who wore dresses during live performances. However, the addition of Dana Hatch, a friend of Half Japanese and one-time member of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy’s live unit, solidified their ranks and pushed them into more experimental territory.

Even if the rest of this album was a hunk of schlocky schtick, it would still remain a classic for one song. By the way, the whole thing is pretty essential. “Thinkin’ Some More” is a twenty-seven minute tour de force that deserves to stand alongside the Velvet Underground’s “Sister Ray” for sheer rock n’ roll brilliance as it begins as a straightforward garage punk shitstorm and coalesces into a fecal typhoon. The word “jam” seems like an oxymoron when applied to punk, but this is one hell of a punk jam session where all members play the holy hell out of their instruments and become psychedelic masters on par with Hawkwind, Major Stars and other heavy lifters. One of the best rock albums of the 90s.

A.R. Kane – 69

AR Kane

69

http://www.mediafire.com/?yawzgiliydm

Totally out of step with anything else in the late 80s, England’s A.R. Kane consisted of a duo, Alex Ayuli and Rudi Tambala. The duo got their start with the One Little Indian and 4ad labels that released two visionary eps, When You’re Sad and Lolita, that laid out a blueprint for the shoegaze movement that followed a few years later. These eps were influenced by ethereal vibes of the 4ad roster, but the sound was also influenced by dub and hinted at the queasy, almost oceanic sound which followed on 69.

In a somewhat unlikely twist they were the A and R in M/A/R/R/S which released the now familiar “Pump Up the Volume” dance track which became a big hit in England and the United States. Instead of cozying up to accessibility, the duo signed to Rough Trade and recorded one of the darkest, idiosyncratic albums for that seminal label. There aren’t many rays of light on this claustrophobic effort as their music echoes the most depressing sounds of the Cure’s Pornography, Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom as well as an appreciation of Krautrock’s most kosmiche moments. In addition, the bass playing on this album is akin to dub after a spoonful of codeine. This music shimmers and each woozy song sort of stumbles into the next. This all makes it sound inaccessible and strange, but somehow it is addictive and catchy in a bizarre way. The lyrics complement the hallucinogenic sounds with lyrics like:

here in my LSdream
things are always what they seem
here in my LSdream, in my LSdreaming

and all the shifting shapes
all changing to grapes
never making mistakes
in my LSdream

and all the peoples, and all the fingers
and all the peoples, and all the fingers
in my LSdream

and circles buzzing with life
tip toe, tip toe, tip toe, tip toe

Now that reads like a bunch of gobbledygook, but when all the elements collide, it is musical manna from the heavens. Enough already, I’m starting to sound like a big hippie.

Metamorfosi – Inferno

Metamorfosi

Inferno (1973)

http://www.mediafire.com/?jzemnyxw0zo

One of the classics of Italian prog, but sometimes overshadowed by the giants of their genre. This is a concept album based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, and the dramatics are in full effect with loud, dominant operatic vocals and big keyboards. An obvious comparison is ELP, but there are also similarities with other Italian bands like Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Le Orme. Unlike a lot of the concept albums I’ve heard, I think this one actually works most of the way through and doesn’t sound too disjointed or forced, it’s goofy in parts but never too goofy. Definitely an album to be enjoyed by those who don’t mind a little cheese in their prog.